The Persian version of Herth Hope Index in Iranian patients with cancer: A psychometric study.

OBJECTIVES: Hope is a contextual concept that has significant effects on human well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Herth Hope Index (P-HHI) among Iranian patients with cancer. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 320 patients with cancer from September to December 2020. After translating the HHI into Persian, content, convergent and discriminant, construct validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis), and reliability of the P-HHI were assessed. RESULTS: The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the P-HHI was composed of two factors: Life Expectancy and Thinking Positive, which explained 55.20% of the total variance. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The research revealed that the P-HHI has acceptable validity and reliability, which can be used to measure the hope concept among Iranian patients with cancer.

The Relationship Between Religious Orientation and Death Anxiety in Iranian Muslim Patients with Cancer: The Mediating Role of Hope.

Cancers are globally prevalent often life-threatening diseases that carry an immense psychological burden such as death anxiety. Thus, identifying protective psychological factors affecting death anxiety in individuals with cancer is of strong relevance. This study investigated the potential mediating role of hope in the relationship between religious orientation and death anxiety in Iranian patients with cancer. A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate death anxiety, hope, and religious orientation in a convenience sample of 320 patients (age range 18-89 years) with cancer. Measures included demographic factors, health characteristics, and validated instruments of the study constructs. Path analysis was used to evaluate mediation models. The findings indicated a direct path from intrinsic religious orientation (ß = - 0.122, p < 0.001) to death anxiety and a direct path from hope (ß = - 0.258, p < 0.001) to death anxiety. However, when hope was introduced as a mediating variable, the relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and death anxiety became non-significant (ß = 0.001, p = 0.983). In this study, hope largely explained the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and death anxiety. In countries such as Iran where religiosity is an important psychological construct, greater hope among the more intrinsically religious may help to explain why more deeply religious persons experience less anxiety.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Persian Version of Religious Orientation Scale in Iranian Patients with Cancer.

This paper reports on the psychometric properties of the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) with a sample of 311 Iranian patients who were suffering from cancer between September and December 2020. A cross-sectional study design was used, and convenience sampling was employed. Reliability was evaluated by internal consistency Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and average inter-item correlation. The exploratory factor analysis showed that the ROS had 15 items and two factors (religious identity and personal identity) that explained 43.2% of the total variance of religious orientation in Iranian patients with cancer. Construct validity was assessed by means of confirmatory factor analysis. The internal consistency and composite reliability were acceptable. The results indicate that the ROS can produce reliable and valid data on religious orientation in a sample of Iranian patient with cancer.

Resilience in Iranian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Psychometric Evaluation of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.

Background: Resilience is a measure of the ability to cope with stress and the accurate measurement of it is critical. This study aimed to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale in Iranian adolescents during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, after the scale translation, the content and construct validity were assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, internal consistency, composite reliability, and invariance measurement were evaluated.Results: The content validity ratio was greater than 0.49, and the modified kappa coefficient for all items was higher than 0.6. With exploratory factor analysis, two factors were extracted consisting of 16 items and explaining 43% of the total variance. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the model. Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability for both factors were greater than 0.7. Although there is no significant difference (p = 0.09) in the average resilience of adolescents in different provinces, boys (42.64 ± 10.90) had a significantly (p < 0.001) higher resilience score than girls (40.10 ± 11.92).Conclusion: The study results showed that the Persian 16-item version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale has acceptable reliability and validity in the Iranian adolescent population.

The Farsi version of meaning of life in Iranian patients with cancer: A psychometric study.

BACKGROUND: Having meaning in life is a protective factor for psychological well-being. Accurate assessment of this construct needs a valid and reliable tool. PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the meaning of life questionnaire in patients with cancer. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, after translating the questionnaire to Farsi, in a sample of 212 patients with cancer, feasibility, content and convergent validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, stability, and responsiveness were evaluated. RESULTS: The results show that the content validity ratio of all ten items was greater than 0.49. Also, the modified Kappa coefficient of each item was greater than 0.6. The maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis extracted one factor, which explains 76.13% of the total variance of the sample. Item nine was removed. The confirmatory factor analysis results show that the one-factor model had good fit indices. The Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, composite reliability, MaxR, and intraclass correlation coefficient were 0.96, 0.96, 0.96, 0.96, and 0.98, respectively. The questionnaires had responsiveness and its response time was 3 s. CONCLUSION AND POLICY SUMMARY: The nine-item Farsi version of the meaning of life questionnaire has good validity and reliability and responsiveness.

The Relationship Between Self-Care Behavior and Concerns About Body Image in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in Iran.

Background and Aim: Hemodialysis treatment saves the life of people with end-stage renal disease (ERDS), but does not prevent the suffering of the disease, anxiety, hopelessness, and so on. Many studies have been performed on self-care behaviors as well as body image in different patients, but so far, no research has been done to investigate the relationship between self-care behavior and body image concerns in hemodialysis patients. Therefore, the aims of this study are to determine the relationship between self-care behavior and body image concern in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate Self-care Behavior and Concerns about Body Image in a convenience sample of 280 patients with ERDS. Measures included demographic factors, health characteristics, and validated instruments of the study constructs Body Image Concern Questionnaire (BICI) and Assessment of self-care behaviors with arteriovenous fistula (ASBHD-AVF). Results: This study showed that self-care behaviors have the ability to predict body image concerns. There was a negative and significant relationship between self-care behavior and body image concern (B = -0.162, ß = -0.140, p = 0.020). These variables explain 7.5% of predictors. Conclusion: Although the findings of the present study showed that increasing age and improving the level of self-care behaviors in patients undergoing hemodialysis reduces body image anxiety, but women were the strongest predictor of body image anxiety.

A Predictive Study Between Anxiety and Fear of COVID-19 With Psychological Behavior Response: The Mediation Role of Perceived Stress.

Objective: Despite the abundance of studies linking fear and anxiety to COVID-19, there are limited studies that examine how these elements impact psychological behavioral responses, especially in Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and fear of COVID-19 with psychological behavior response, whether this relationship is mediated by role of perceived stress among Iranian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A predictive cross-sectional study was used to investigate the relationships between COVID-19 anxiety syndrome, fear of COVID-19 with psychological behavioral responses due to the pandemic, and the mediating role of the COVID-19 perceived stress in these relationships. Results: The current study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, fear and anxiety of COVID-19 can influence the psychological behavioral responses of individuals; however, this can be explained through perceived stress. Conclusion: As such, the current study points out that the individuals who perceived high stress due to COVID-19 were more likely to comply with guidelines, which has given new insight into this field. The current study findings are applicable for health policymakers in order to help them in understanding human behavior for developing health promotion programs and also for fostering resilience among the general population.